1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to trays for holding things and, in particular, to trays for holding tools and the like which can be supported on a variety of surfaces, including vehicle tires, to adapt to different working environments.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Mobile machinery, such as trucks, buses, trailers, farm tractors, automobiles, and so forth, often exhibit mechanical failures that require servicing by mechanics. Such mechanical failures occur at various times and locations. For example, vehicles may suffer a mechanical failure requiring immediate attention along the roadside, or the mechanical failure may be such that the vehicle can be located in a more convenient location, such as a garage, to perform the repairs. The present invention is useful for both on-site repair work and for repair and service work in garage-type environments.
A problem often exists that mechanics have only limited or inconvenient places to keep their tools. Typically tools are kept in large toolboxes and the mechanic will remove from the large toolboxes only those selected tools needed to conduct the repair. As the repairs are made, the selected tools being used by the mechanic are normally placed somewhere on the ground or a shelf near the machinery or placed on the machinery itself. For example, it has become common for truck and semi mechanics to utilize one of the front tires of the truck or semi tractor as a tray of sorts to receive tools, parts, and the like while conducting repairs or servicing the machine. These practices often pose safety hazards because the mechanic or other persons can trip on the tools. The tools may also be damaged or lost because they fall out of position or they are left in machinery that leaves the garage.
Small portable toolboxes, usually with flat bottoms, are sometimes used near the machinery to keep the mechanic's tools better organized. However, placing flat-bottomed toolboxes on bumpers, fenders, tires, or other such rounded parts of the machinery is often difficult and results in the toolbox overturning and spilling the contents.
Several attempts have been made in the prior art to provide improved tool trays that can be positioned on a tire or other rounded parts of the machinery. For example, Diller (U.S. Pat. No. 4,341,304) discloses a tool tray having a base with an open bottom that can be placed on top of a tire. The tool tray of Diller is shaped to accommodate a limited number of different tire sizes, but is limited in size and cannot be reconfigured easily to accommodate different working conditions and environments.
Failor (U.S. Pat. No. 6,109,435) discloses a tool kit for containing repair tools and parts, which is adapted to be supported by the upper portion of a front tire of a truck. The tool kit has a unitary body with several built-in trays, a flat center section, and a pair of handles. The body is shaped to fit snugly over a particular shape and size of tire.
Stewart (U.S. Pat. No. 5,706,991) discloses a portable tool holder with a stabilizing base having a curved shape to provide a support when the holder is placed upon a wheel. Multiple compartments are defined on a top section of the tool holder using partitions and side edges. The dimensions of the base are preselected to fit a particular wheel size.
Dixon, Sr. (U.S. Pat. No. Des. 424,806) discloses an ornamental design for a tire-supported tool tray. Freitag (U.S. Pat. No. 6,038,984) and Kitchen (U.S. Des. 481,282) both disclose tool trays having spring structures for clamping to the top of a vehicle tire. Henderson (U.S. Pat. No. 3,269,555) discloses a tray having a spring gripping structure for securing the tray to a center hump on the floor of a vehicle.
The prior art devices described above fail to provide a tool tray that can be adjusted easily to fit a wide variety of tire shapes and sizes, and that can be reconfigured as desired to accommodate different tool collections, repair jobs, and working environments. Thus, there is a need in the industry for an improved tool tray assembly that overcomes these problems and limitations of the prior art devices.